Fishermen have long known that they could extended their fishing season year round by cutting through ice covered bodies of water to gain access to the fish. Conventional fishing equipment, i.e. rod and reel is not necessary for such fishing. There is no need for accurate casting so that a simple reel to store the line has been sufficient for crude ice fishing. Various prior art patents add a degree of sophistication, however, to ice fishing. These patents are directed at solving a number of perceived problems and some of them employ rather sophisticated and complex devices for dropping a line through a hole in the ice.